Panicum virgatum ‘Totem Pole’, hereinafter also referred by just the cultivar name ‘Totem Pole’ and the “new plant” is a new and distinct cultivar of switch grass. The seed was collected by the inventor in the autumn of 2011 as an open pollinated selection from an isolation block of HK10-02 (not patented) and siblings of HK10-02 at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich. The individual seedling was initially selected from among many for further observation in the summer and fall of 2013 at which time it was assigned the original breeder code H11-02-04.
The new plant has been successfully asexually propagated by division at the same wholesale perennial plant nursery in Zeeland, Mich. and found to produce stable and identical plants that maintain the unique characteristics of the original plant. The plant is stable and reproduces true-to-type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
No plants of Panicum virgatum ‘Totem Pole’ have been sold in this country or anywhere in the world prior to the filing of this application, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made prior to the filing of this application with the exception of that which was disclosed or sold within one-year period of the filing of this application and was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.